Itza Lodge. Long Caye, Belize. The good, bad and everything else

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kingsnwings

Registered
Messages
30
Reaction score
42
Location
California
# of dives
50 - 99
Recently spent a week at Itza Lodge on Long Caye in the Lighthouse Reef of Belize (20 minutes from the Blue Hole and Half Moon Caye for reference). Thought I would write up a review, as I found little information beforehand.

My Video

Diving was easy, enjoyable, and we saw a lot of nice things weather permitting. The weather was bad which impacted our dive site choices (heard this happens a handful of days a year and we got 5 of them). The Itza Lodge (and Huracan Lodge) are... interesting, but enjoyable, albeit overpriced. The Itza dive shop desperately needs a revamp, which it is supposedly getting.

Did I enjoy myself, yes. Was it worth the money? Glad I did it, but I won't go back.

The Dive Shop

From what we were told, whoever used to run the diveshop ran that place into the ground. It has clearly been over a year (years?) since there has been any maintenance on anything... tanks, BCDs, regs, anything. The crew spent a lot of time changing bad o-rings with bad o-rings until the leaks stopped. In its current state, I don't think they could reliably handle over 8 divers at the resort. If I were a brand new diver and anxious, this would not be an ideal environment (even though the diving is made for beginners). They would send us in 1 or 2 at a time, and the DM would be last in. On many occasions tanks were already empty and needed to be swapped; a few times leaks were so bad people had to get back on the boat and swap tanks.

The good: The new manager Elvis is a great guy and knows what he is doing. He is open about the issues and unless he was just BSing, I think he could get the shop into good shape. The only issue is they will need a lot of money... can they do it? All the dive sites including Blue Hole and Half Moon Caye are 20 minutes away. The best sites are on the other side of Long Caye, so you will never dive these sites from Ambergris or Turneffe.

More bad: the boat captain kind of sucks. The boat will bang into the dock hard several times every day. He will go full speed to get to the next dive site in 10 minutes, which means your back is going to take a massive beating against the waves. Have a good chiropractor. Why not go slow and steady and get there in 25 minutes, we are on a surface interval after all. It is either on purpose or he just sucks.

The Resort

Good enough and gets the job done, food was good, service could be improved. 1.5 hour boat ride from Belize City to Long Caye. Honestly, when you consider where in the world you are, the resort itself is great, just see the below issues.

The Good: rooms are big, nice dining / lounge area with a bar to hang out, hammocks on the sand and on each balcony, very private. Nice people, clean rooms, good food, reliable power, wifi in common area. Beach front with great views. Kayaking was a lot of fun.

The Bad: sometimes you get a slight whiff of the septic tanks, the walls have no insulation so you hear EVERYTHING, hell you can even see through cracks in the walls and floors into other rooms (not clearly enough to be a peeping Tom), hot water was 50/50 or better odds, customer service needs improvement. Luckily not us, but if you miss your boat from Belize City, you will pay $$$. The management confused me for other guests several times, sending important information meant for them to me as well as giving me their bills. They aren't exactly on their A game.

The Weird: Someone with good intentions decided to build up Long Caye with a boardwalk through the mangroves, a hospital with decompression chamber, main lodge, the works. It failed. Some more people with good intentions but poor execution turned these abandoned buildings into Itza Lodge, Huracan, a private estate or 2, and a vacation rental (Calypso).

The old boardwalks are dilapidated (exposed nails, broken wood, holes, you name it). It is a mangrove island, there are swamps of course. Is there sewage in these swamps? I can't say for sure, but I would guess yes. Is Calypso located on a smelly swamp, yup. Right next door to Itza Lodge. I heard there is there an old deco chamber that is in ruins and has been built over as a piece of furniture.

Huracan is located inside the island, no where near the beach, no breeze, a long walk to the piers, and looks like a tiny tiny 1 story building that has been converted into several rooms, bathrooms, kitchen, everything. From what I understand, the Huracan and Itza people do not get along.
 
Thank you for the review. That is helpful. We are looking for a Belize solution. Sounds like this isn't it.
 
One of the more interesting reviews I've read in a while, thanks. I don't think I've seen Itza Lodge reviewed here before.

I think I would enjoy this place as a bit of an adventure. My wife, on the other hand, probably not so much. Unfortunately, I guess I spoiled her with Turneffe Island Lodge/Resort years ago.
 
Thanks for your review. Like others, this would not be a good fit for us.
 
ITZA is an interesting place. I have been to Huracan 6 times and absolutely love it. There is history between the ITZA ownership and the original owner of Huracan. The new owners of ITZA were also friends with ITZA owners and I think it's a friendly relationship.

Over the first 5 year I was at Huracan, there were almost no guests at ITZA. A couple of times, there was a student group down snorkelling. They had no boat or Captain. Any SCUBA divers that were there dove with Huracan, or they brought a water taxi out from the mainland to serve as a snorkelling platform. Eighteen months ago, I heard they were going bankrupt, but by the time we got there, that had changed to a "renewal" plan and attempts to get things moving. I believe the owner lives in Florida and runs a chain of gardening supply outlets. (As opposed to Huracan, where the owner is on site). Unless something changes, I can't imagine the place staying in business, but maybe it's a tax shelter).

The island of Long Caye is owned by an outfit that had dreams of developing an off-shore community. For sure the board walk is pooched. The docks were getting that way until the hurricane a couple of years forced them to rebuild. The front dock was finished earlier this year, and the back dock is almost finished. I don't know how the OP can consider the walk to the front dock a "long" one... from ITZA it can't be two minutes, perhaps four from Huracan. The back dock is indeed perhaps 12 - 15 minutes and perhaps the bad weather forced them to use this dock.

The medical center on Long Caye became Huracan. And yes, it's a little like staying in someone's house. Eight guests max, great food, spectacular diving. We are three weeks out from out seventh trip. It's not for everyone... it's remote, lacks a few creature comforts, but we have been taking small groups there for years and virtually everyone loved it and most have returned either with us or otherwise.

It's too bad about ITZA. It's a neat looking place and has real potential, but this review doesn't surprise me. On the other hand, it also sounds like skunky weather set the tone. There are weather-friendly dive locations around Long Caye but they are not as good as the fair-weather sites. We have missed the odd day as well due to wind.

If anyone is looking for an alternative, look for my Huracan reviews on here.
 
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I think I would enjoy this place as a bit of an adventure. My wife, on the other hand, probably not so much. Unfortunately, I guess I spoiled her with Turneffe Island Lodge/Resort years ago.

There are too many concerns for me... first and foremost, whether they would even be there when I got there. The former DM/assistant manager at Huracan was managing the place very briefly last year, and I considered taking a larger group there, but decided against it, in part because my affection for Huracan. I was chatting with him earlier this week and he is no longer there. I know he was struggling to get funds to do anything.
 
There are too many concerns for me... first and foremost, whether they would even be there when I got there.

Well, that would suck alright, lol.

Reminds me of the first time we stayed at Turneffe Island Lodge/Resort. I had been in regular contact with the sales staff in Houston for almost a year before the trip because I was pre-paying monthly for a two-week stay. Kind of got to know everyone there over time. Suddenly, with about a month to go, they stopped answering the phones and responding to my emails. This went on for about a week and was deeply concerning because they had always promptly responded to my emails and on the few occasions that I had to leave a voice mail they had always called me back right away. I was worried they had gone belly up along with a significant amount of my vacation dollars.

Turns out the owner had fired the entire front office because they kept screwing up the reservations and had spent the week hiring new staff. I was sad for them but deeply relieved that someone would still be picking us up at the airport.

Good to hear from you, Stoo. One of these days we might actually be in Belize at the same time.
 
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Good to hear from you, Stoo. One of these days we might actually be in Belize at the same time.

That would be nice!

It's potentially a risk with any of these small, privately owned places. I would normally only pay with a credit card so you have some protection.
 
It's too bad about ITZA. It's a neat looking place and has real potential, but this review doesn't surprise me. On the other hand, it also sounds like skunky weather set the tone. There are weather-friendly dive locations around Long Caye but they are not as good as the fair-weather sites. We have missed the odd day as well due to wind.

If anyone is looking for an alternative, look for my Huracan reviews on here.

Itza was using the main dock while Huracan was using the far dock. You are correct, the walk to the main dock isn't very far from Huracan, it would just be a bummer to not be staying directly on the beach like at Itza.

Itza could be a really cool place if they got their dive operation in good shape (like you say Huracan is). As it stands, total gong show. Pretty sure all the spare parts were coming from Huracan, and our DM for the 2nd half of the week came from Huracan because Itza couldn't get enough of their own DM's.
 
Itza was using the main dock while Huracan was using the far dock. You are correct, the walk to the main dock isn't very far from Huracan, it would just be a bummer to not be staying directly on the beach like at Itza..

I hate sand, and I'm pretty sure I have ADHD, so beaches aren't really my thing... but understood.

Did they have AC at Itza? Their friggin generators keep us up some nights, so I assume that's what they're running for. I never use AC when I'm diving but I know that's an issue for some.
 
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